Lyra and the Hijacking
by coolsquirrelgirl
Summary: Often mentioned throughout the trilogy was the time when the college kids and the townies hijacked the Costas boat. My story about what happened, I wrote it awhile ago. Please RxR. Oneshot.


Lyra and the Hijacking

Lyra scrambled out of her bedroom window with an excitement she had never felt before. She quickly swung herself onto the roof of Jordan College, settling herself into the familiar position. Once situated, she gazed bright-eyed out over all of Oxford.

"Today's the day, Pan," she cried excitedly.

"I'm still not sure if it's such a great idea," replied Pantalaimon, assuming an owl form. He thought that maybe if he appeared wise, Lyra would take his advice for once.

"Of course it's a good idea," replied Lyra confidently. Pantalaimon's owl shape was obviously having no effect.

"But what if we get caught?" asked Pantalaimon, still quite apprehensive of the whole plan.

"We can't get caught," replied Lyra, still stubborn and defiant. "We worked out the plan so carefully. When Roger and the others get their break at noon, we head out. On the way, we'll pick up the others- they'll be ready. Once we get to the river, we have to find an empty boat. If anyone comes after us, the designated ones will fight them; hold them off so that the rest of us can go on. We'll get on the boat and sail down the river. If we get far enough, we can really have some fun. But the main goal is to find the bung. 'Sides, if anything goes wrong, we can just abandon ship."

Lyra's confident manner and leadership skills, as well as the fact that she'd come up with the idea in the first place, had made her the obvious leader of this particular adventure.

"If you say so," replied Pantalaimon, changing into a starched-white ermine and flowing into Lyra's lap. This was a battle that he simply would not win.

Roger knocked on Lyra's door at precisely 12:03. Three hard knocks, and then two soft- their special signal. Lyra had been laying on her bed, reading a book one of the Scholar's had told her was excellent, although if she were asked what she had read, she would have had no idea. She was too excited to comprehend anything. She just went over the plan over and over in her mind, becoming increasingly excited and jumpy. So when she heard Roger's knock, she was already jumping off her bed and running towards the door.

She pulled the door open fiercely, to find Roger standing there, looking just as excited as she was.

"They're ready," said Roger, a glint in his eye. He didn't need to explain anything- Lyra knew that they meant all the other children. And Lyra was sure what he meant by ready. It was time.

Lyra and Roger raced through Jordan's grand halls, despite protests from a few Scholars who told them to slow down as they passed. As they ran, the daemons took the forms of wolves. The children had decided that that form would give them all bravery and courage.

Lyra and Roger had to pause for a moment to open the heavy front doors, for even running into the doors at full speed wouldn't have opened them. The only thing that would benefit from that would be sore wrists and even more delay.

So they paused for a moment, and pushed the doors. Sunlight streamed in, and Lyra felt giddy with delight. Two weeks of planning and it was finally here.

The other children were already waiting, their wolf-shaped daemons beside them. Lyra laughed, realizing how much they looked like a small army. Of course, they were all wearing old mismatched tattered clothes, but Lyra could almost picture them all in uniform, on an important mission to find the bung.

After her quick delight, Lyra became solemn. All the children were straight-faced. They had one try to do this right. To do it wrong would mean punishment and lack of pride.

The children continued down the road. Along the way, they picked up street urchins standing in small packs. They knew who was in on the mission. The children's wolf-formed daemons gave them away.

They continued to run, but they slowed as they reached the river. The pack was now quite large, and to all have attacked at once would just put them at risk for getting caught.

"I'll go find an empty boat," whispered Lyra. "When I motion to you, run." The children nodded gravely. This would probably be the hardest thing that they had ever pulled off.

Lyra started walking, and Pantalaimon temporarily changed to a moth, so as to be less conspicuous. Lyra's eyes darted around quickly, until they settled on Ma Costa. She knew who she was- she had spanked her just three weeks ago, when the Gyptians had just arrived, and all Lyra had done was torment her little boy Billy a bit.

Lyra's eyes drifted slowly towards the Costa's boat- It appeared to be empty. She motioned to the others. The Costas were going to get what they deserved.

In a moment, most of the children were at Lyra's side. A few others were back fighting off a few Gyptian children who had noticed them coming, but most of their army was still intact. The surged forward, all boarding the boat. Lyra began to shout directions.

"Roger, untie the boat!" she cried. "Johnny, steer!" She supervised as most of the children found jobs that needed doing.

"It's untied," yelled Roger over all the pandemonium. "Let's go!" shouted Lyra. The large boat worked mostly on wind power, and, luckily for them, a large gust came at exactly that moment. The children cheered as the boat was pushed away from the dock. By this point, some Gyptians had noticed them, and were yelling at them as they ran along the river bank.

"Now go find the bung!" cried Lyra to all the kids who were standing awkwardly by the side, not sure what to do. They all nodded and ran below deck. Lyra gazed outward, the warm wind brushing her blonde waves across her face. She would go below in a moment. Right now she just wanted to feel the spray of the crisp river water on her face.

Some of the little army began to run around the boat, giddy at the fact that they had captured the boat.

"We searched every room, Lyra, and we can't find it!" said one of the children from town anxiously.

"It has to be there somewhere," snapped Lyra, shoving a kitchen girl named Bridget out of the way. Bridget was a year younger than Lyra, and when Roger wasn't available Lyra played with her, but she was too small and nervous.

Lyra ripped open the door and began to search methodically through all the rooms downstairs. There were many more than she thought. After the first two rooms proved fruitless, she entered the third.

"Pan, it has to be here," she said, annoyed that this was harder than she had expected. She yanked aside furniture, and then shoved it back in place.

"It must be lower," she sighed. "How deep does this boat go?" She ran into the hallway, and spied a small staircase down at the end. She lunged for it just as Roger called to her in a panicked voice, "Lyra, them Gyptians, they're all coming, on all their boats! We hafta go!" Lyra sighed. The last thing she wanted was to be caught in their mission. That would make it a real failure. She called out, "The mission is over." All the children streamed out of the rooms, shaking their heads. No one had found the bung, but they were still smiling nonetheless. This was the most fun thing that they had ever done.

Lyra led them to the upper deck, to find a large boat pulling up beside them. Ma Costa was on it, and she looked quite angry.

"Abandon ship!" cried Lyra, leaping over the edge. For five long seconds she sailed down through the sir, landing in the water with a large splash. More splashes sounded beside her, too many to count. Upon landing, all the daemons turned to fish. The children swam to the bank and pulled themselves onto the river bed. They walked a little way away and sat down, dripping water all the way. Lyra pulled off her soaking wet shoes, still smiling at what a fun, although brief, adventure it had been. Mrs. Lonsdale would have a fit when she arrived back at Jordan wet and dirty, but she didn't care. She smiled. In her eyes, this mission had been a success.


End file.
